Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Short Interest Update

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,520,000 shares, a drop of 5.7% from the March 31st total of 14,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 65,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALKS. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Alkermes by 521.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 175,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,860,000 after buying an additional 147,000 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Alkermes by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 377,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,472,000 after purchasing an additional 169,385 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 308,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,642,000 after purchasing an additional 41,753 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 36,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 9,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Alkermes by 10.0% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,461,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,930,000 after acquiring an additional 133,357 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS stock opened at $24.01 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $26.94 and a 200-day moving average of $26.79. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Alkermes has a 12-month low of $22.01 and a 12-month high of $33.71.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $377.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.78 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 21.39% and a return on equity of 16.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alkermes will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALKS. TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, April 1st. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.38.

Alkermes Company Profile

Alkermes plc, a biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products to address unmet medical needs of patients in therapeutic areas in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and a pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates in development for neurological disorders.